Ed Miliband’s leaflet to his Brexit-voting Doncaster constituents includes the usual Labour lies about the NHS; however, it stretches the truth more than most when it comes to Brexit. The leaflet claims Miliband “voted nine times in Parliament for a deal”.
In reality, he has not voted for a single UK-EU deal that has been put on the floor of the house. He wasn’t even one of the 19 Labour MPs (including his constituency neighbour Caroline Flint) to back the first reading of Boris’ deal. A Guido fact check to the people of Doncaster: Ed Milliband has voted against every deal agreed with the EU, against No Deal, and in favour of delay every chance he got.
Back in March, Jess Phillips gave an interview to the Times all about herself (quelle surprise), in which she said she would “almost certainly” quit the “controlling, bullying, chaotic” Labour Party if Tom Watson did. Jess has always been thought of as an honest politician – the clock is ticking…
Following Watson’s resignation last night, former Blair and Brown adviser Theo Bertram points out a running theme amongst Gordon Brown’s former advisors-turned MPs:
Gordon’s advisers, who went into the Commons:
Ed Balls – lost seat, 2015
Douglas Alexander – lost seat, 2015
Michael Dugher – stepped down, 2017
John Woodcock- quit Labour July 2018
Ian Austin – quit Labour Feb 2019
Tom Watson – stepping down, 2019
Well down the list of Extinction Rebellion’s Christmas list manifesto is to encourage the planting of more trees. As part of their Westminster protests, the climate communists have set up stall opposite Parliament with the offer of one free tree for each MP to take back to their constituency and plant.Go back to your constituencies, and prepare to save the planet…
Guido thought he’d pop along to see which MPs have turned down the kind offer, and given the self-professed climate credentials of some MPs he was surprised to see their trees still unclaimed. Appropriately, Barry Gardiner had collected his…
Particularly surprising to see uncollected was Ed Miliband’s tree, who, as a former environment secretary, has made banging on about the environment his métier, Jeremy Corbyn’s, who could easily pop it in the corner of his allotment; and Rory Stewart’s, who made planting 100 million trees one of his key pledges when running for the Tory leadership. Not a spot on Extinction Rebellion’s stated aim of one billion…
Guido also thought Extinction Rebellion might be interested in noting that over the last 35 years, global forest loss has been more than offset by new forest growth anyway. MPs have until early afternoon to collect their sapling. Guido’s sure they would reGreta missing out…
Since the news of Theresa May’s resignation honours broke, Labour MPs have been falling over themselves to call for cricketing legend Geoffrey Boycott to have his proposed Knighthood withdrawn due to his abuse conviction. Harriet Harman, coincidentally running for the next speaker, has been vocally touring the studios…
Labour figures haven’t always been opposed to Boycott, in 2010 Ed Miliband described the England cricketer as “my hero”, due to being attracted to the “charisma of imperfection”. Who was deputy leader under Ed Miliband? None other than Harriet Harman…
Our new PM has spent the week travelling the country spreading optimism and positivity, sadly some lefty politicians and celebrities haven’t been sharing in the good vibes quite as enthusiastically as the public, who’ve already a given Boris a 10% lead over Labour. Rather than nominate just one ‘Driven Bonkers by Boris’ award, Guido has rounded up a few contenders for your enjoyment:
Former Labour leader-turned podcast host, Ed Miliband, wallowed in despair with his co-host on his ironically-named ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ podcast. Apparently Boris becoming PM had depressed him so much he needed a tickle, noting that “the darkest hour is before the dawn”. His co-host jovially rounds it off with “we’re really grasping in the darkness for optimism this week”.
Notorious Corbynista and self-professed comedian Rob Delaney lost his cool in stating politics is now a “fight or die” battle between “socialism and barbarism”. Delaney appears to think those two are different things…
Baldrick actor Tony Robinson had already pitched with a cunning plan involving pushing Boris over the edge of a cliff. As Blackadder said, “Baldrick, your head is as empty as a eunuch’s underpants.”
Self-described author and “anthro-journalist” Will Black had this to offer. Insightful…
Minor Harry Potter star Sean Biggerstaff is disturbingly obsessed with the idea of Boris Johnson being guillotined, as well as complaining that no-one has pushed him down the stairs or beaten him to death. Should probably stick to playing with his broomstick rather than Twitter…
If Boris was a left-wing politician there would be outrage, instead celebrities and politicians are happy to just keep stoking the abuse up…
Former Labour Leader Ed Miliband (remember him?) squirmed in his seat when challenged over Guido’s air mile investigation which revealed that since December 2017, Ed personally racked up over 19,000 air miles, pumping out over 3.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide. He says “individuals have to do their bit” and he’s sure he “could do more”. Understatement of the year…
Ed Miliband was busy evangelising on Today this morning about the need to declare a climate “emergency”, advocating restricting flights and slapping higher taxes on plane tickets. Unfortunately for poor Mother Earth, Ed doesn’t seem to have believed it was enough of an emergency to alter his own travel habits. Since December 2017 Ed has racked up over 19,000 air miles, pumping out over 3.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide:
Essaouira, Morocco: over 2,800miles return
Week-long American tour including Boston and Chicago: over 8,000mile round trip
Iceland: 2,360miles return
Malaga: 2,080 miles return
Zurich: 978 miles return
Vienna: 1,582 miles return
Florence: 1,512 miles return
At least Ed has saved some air miles by combining various work trips with family trips, a donor was kind enough to pay for his wife to come along on his Malaga trip, while his kids came along on his US tour and even got treated to free game tickets for his beloved Boston Red Sox. Air Miliband is clearly a classy affair, Ed’s trip to Florence came in at a handsome £1,090 for just one night’s accommodation with returns flights and ‘subsistence’. At least Ed won’t have to worry himself about the taxes going up, it’s just his donors who’ll be taking the hit…
Sources: “Reasons to Be Cheerful” podcast, register of interests.
Local Doncaster MP Ed Miliband has been taking a brave stand against HS2, which is an interesting contrast to the position that Labour Leader Ed Miliband took. He now opposes it so much that last week he pledged to push for “a proper examination and inquiry into how HS2 can have got things so wrong” arguing that “my constituents deserve answers about how they have been so badly let down.”
This is a brave call. An expansive inquiry might well end up looking closely at the work of a certain lawyer who worked extensively on HS2 for the Department for Transport, Ms Justine Thornton QC. Who just so happens to be his wife…
In all the excitement yesterday we overlooked “International Town Crier’s Day”. Ed Miliband didn’t, he was dressed up in the full regalia. 10/10 for enthusiasm. Remember when he wanted to ban MPs from having outside jobs? He is bringing home the bacon to the tune of £2,500-a-week for his Radio 2 work…
MPs have voted against Ed Miliband’s Leveson 2 amendment by a majority of nine. And…
I understand Labour will not be pushing the section 40 amendment to the Data Protection Bill to a vote, meaning newspapers will not be liable for legal costs in libel actions they win. Big victory for investigative journalism.
Labour have just confirmed to Guido that the Watson amendment will not go to a vote. They didn’t have the numbers and have bottled it. Victory for the free press.
Ed Miliband, Tom Watson, Max Mosley, Impress, Hugh Grant, John Cleese, Brian Leveson, Gary Lineker, Steve Coogan, Evan Harris… your boys took one hell of a beating (well, just)…
On the Today programme this morning, Ed Miliband made the very serious allegation that journalists impersonated medical staff after the Manchester Arena terror attack. Miliband cited Bob Kerslake’s report to claim:
“We had journalists posing as medical staff… it is a minority that’s bringing down the good name of the press, that minority hasn’t changed.”
From listening to Miliband, you’d think that the Kerslake report found evidence of this happening. All the report (PDF) actually contained was three unsubstantiated claims: one from a member of the public who spoke to “someone saying they were a Bereavement Nurse”, another from a member of the public who spoke to someone “they felt sounded to be more like a journalist”, and a third who claimed “TV journalists went to her school and phoned the hospital pretending to be from the police“. The Kerslake report did not find proof that any of this happened, or that any journalist was responsible. Despite Miliband’s assertion to the contrary, no evidence was found that any journalist posed as medical staff after the Manchester Arena attack. The claims were so lacking in substance that Kerslake does not even mention them in his report’s conclusions or recommendations. They would not stand up in a court of law (let alone meet the IPSO guidelines on accuracy). Miliband is peddling fake news to smear the press ahead of the vote tonight…
Tonight the Commons votes on Tom Watson and Ed Miliband’s amendments declaring war on press freedom. The amendments are a Trump-style assault on the media, outrageously attempting to force publishers to pay both sides’ legal costs even if they win a dispute – a reform that will potentially bankrupt media companies. Watson and Miliband, backed by former fascist Max Mosley and Hacked Off’s press-hating millionaire celebrities and oligarchs, last night lost the support of the Guardian. In an excoriating statement condemning Watson and Miliband, Guardian News and Media warn the amendments “would further erode press freedom and have a severe chilling effect for the news environment in the UK”. They are particularly damning of Watson:
“The inclusion of Condition A has been widely interpreted as ensuring that news organisations structured along the lines of the Guardian and the Observer should be excluded from the scope of the broader clause. This clause was not discussed with Guardian News & Media and we disagree with attempts to impose a selective sanction on the media.”
These amendments are driven by Watson and Miliband’s personal loathing of the free press, rather than any concern for victims of intrusion. Miliband has semi-retired from his £77,000-a-year job as MP for Doncaster North – he seems to spend most of his time making podcasts and he couldn’t be bothered to turn up for the Syria debate last month. Even the Guardian is horrified by this blatant attempt by Watson and Miliband to undermine the free press in Britain. Any MP who votes for their amendments tonight is an enemy of press freedom…
When two jobs Ed Miliband isn’t coining it on tour he’s giving interviews to music magazines bashing the free press. The former Labour leader backed press freedom-hating Stop Funding Hate in a totally-not-really bitter interview with NME:
“Look at the Mail’s campaign against Stop Funding Hate, which is people saying to advertisers that they should stop advertising with the Mail and The Sun.
2015: Labour leader Ed Miliband pledges to ban MPs from having second jobs: “We’ve got to remove any suspicion that MPs are working not for their constituents’ interests but for someone else’s interests.”
2018: Backbencher Ed Miliband announces a national live tour of his Reasons to be Cheerful podcast in various cities across the country, selling out London’s 400 seat Leicester Square Theatre later this month with tickets at £15 a pop.[…] Read the rest
Labour’s Rushanara Ali has written to the Foreign Secretary defending Aung San Suu Kyi amid the violence in Burma. Suu Kyi is a darling of the British left, she was given the red carpet treatment by Labour when she opened the party’s then London HQ five years ago.[…] Read the rest
The licence fee payer shelled out a mere £2,500 to listen to Ed Miliband evaluate toilet flushes when he sat in for Jeremy Vine on Radio 2, the Register of Members’ Interests reveals. That means Miliband bagged £500 for two hours work a day, which, to be fair, is an enormous discount on Vine’s reputed £10,000-a-week for the radio show.[…] Read the rest
Double-jobbing Ed Miliband’s peak hypocritical stint as a radio presenter is finally drawing to a close. For the big set-piece on today’s show he managed to secure the time of his own brother David, who joined listeners live from New York.[…] Read the rest
The same Ed Miliband who preached that MPs shouldn’t take second jobs – “we’ve got to remove any suspicion that MPs are working not for their constituents’ interests but for someone else’s interests” – is today doing death metal impressions on national radio.[…] Read the rest
In an alternative universe Prime Minister Ed Miliband is settling into his third year in office. Instead he’s talking to old ladies about their toilets on Radio 2.Oh Ed… where did it all go wrong?[…] Read the rest
